Ukrainian Drone Strikes Russian Long-Range Bomber Base

(CTN NEWS) – KYIV, Ukraine – The Russian military announced on Monday that it shot down a Ukrainian drone as it approached an airbase deep inside Russia, the second time it has been targeted this month.

If drones can fly so far into Russia, it raises concerns about the efficiency of Russia’s air defenses.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the event occurred early on Monday, and three soldiers were killed by flying debris at the Engels airbase.

Which is home to the Tu-95 and Tu-160 nuclear-capable strategic bombers that have been used to attack Ukraine.

Engels is situated more than 600 kilometers (more than 370 miles) east of the Ukrainian border in the Saratov region of Russia on the Volga river.

According to the government, Russian aircraft were not harmed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s adviser said Putin needed to acknowledge that Russia does not want talks.

“Russia has attacked Ukraine single-handedly and is killing its citizens,” adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted. “Russia doesn’t want negotiations but avoids responsibility.”

Putin needs to come back to reality.
1. Russia single-handedly attacked Ukraine and is killing citizens. There are no other "countries, motives, geopolitics"
2. Russia doesn’t want negotiations, but tries to avoid responsibility. This is obvious, so we are moving to the Tribunal.

— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) December 25, 2022

Speaking to Ukrainian television on Monday, Ukrainian Air Force spokeswoman Yurii Ihnat did not mention his nation’s involvement in the incident but stated: “These are the repercussions of Russian aggression.”

If the Russians believed that the conflict would not impact them in the far rear, they were gravely mistaken, he said.

Ukrainian authorities have never acknowledged Russian drone shipments. Regarding past high-profile attacks, such as the drone strikes on Russian military bases earlier this month, they have remained vague.

Three personnel were killed, and four others were injured in the first-ever drone attacks on Engels and the Dyagilevo facility in the Ryazan area of western Russia on December 5.

Following the airbase attacks, Ukraine experienced a heavy missile barrage in retaliation that destroyed homes and other structures and killed civilians.

According to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, at least four civilians have been hurt in Ukraine during the past 24 hours due to the Russian bombardment of five locations in the country’s southeast.

Overall, the shelling during the night of Sunday into Monday has been much lighter.

Russian soldiers stopped shelling the Dnipropetrovsk area, which borders the partially controlled southern districts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, for the first time in weeks, according to its governor Valentyn Reznichenko.

Since the Russians began bombarding the districts around Nikopol, “this is the tranquil third night in 5.5 months,” Reznichenko wrote.

The Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station is situated across the Dnieper River from Nikopol.

Yaroslav Yanushevich, the Ukrainian governor of Kherson, reported that 33 shelling incidents occurred in Ukrainian-controlled portions of the nearby Kherson region throughout the previous day. There weren’t any losses.

The city of Kramatorsk, where Ukrainian forces are based, was attacked by Russian forces on Sunday.

According to the battlefield report from the Ukrainian presidency, three missiles destroyed residential buildings and struck an industrial site, although no injuries were reportedly suffered.

Battles are still going on around the city of Bakhmut, which Russian forces have been attempting to take for weeks to strengthen their hold on Ukraine’s east, in the partially occupied eastern Donetsk region.

The Russian forces are “suffering tremendous losses, and medical facilities are inundated with wounded soldiers” in the nearby Luhansk area.

Which is almost totally under Moscow’s control, said Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk, on Ukrainian television on Monday.

According to Haidai, the Russian army is redeploying paratroopers to the area from the Kherson region.

Kherson, which Kyiv’s forces had retaken last month, was the target of a horrific attack on Saturday that left hundreds of people dead and wounded.

According to governor Yaroslav Yanushevich, “locals are lining up to donate blood for those injured in the terrible incident.

RELATED CTN NEWS:

Ukraine War: Zelensky Delivers A Bristling Christmas Message After Russian Strikes